A late surge from Australia’s Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) was sufficient to deny Italy’s Giacomo Nizzolo (Qhubeka-ASSOS) victory in Stage 5 of the Giro d’Italia in Cattolica as drama and heartbreak unfolded in bucket masses on the Adriatic coast. After a contact of shoulders with the maglia ciclamino Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Fenix) on the house straight, Ewan discovered his method via the our bodies with sufficient zip in his legs to relegate the European champion Nizzolo to one other second place on the Giro – the eleventh of his profession. Elia Viviani (Cofidis) took third place forward of Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates), with Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Visma) solely adequate for eighth and Merlier, winner of Stage 2, rolling house in twelfth after dropping a sequence after that coming along with Ewan.
Merlier’s disappointing end noticed the Giro debutant lose the maglia ciclamino to Nizzolo, who now leads compatriot Viviani by 4 factors, with the Belgian one other eight factors adrift.
But the end of the pan-flat 177km stage from Modena was marred by a critical incident involving Mikel Landa (Bahrain-Victorious) and Tuesday’s Stage 4 winner Joe Dombrowski (UAE Team Emirates). Both riders collided with a chunk of highway furnishings in the final 5 kilometres when the tempo in the peloton was hovering and tensions have been excessive.
While the American Dombrowski, the blue jersey, was ready to full the stage eight minutes down on his thirtieth birthday, Spanish climber Landa was not amongst his Bahrain-Victorious teammates after they crossed the road en masse 5 minutes after Ewan’s victory. It was later confirmed that Landa had been taken to hospital for therapy to his accidents.
Landa, 31, had impressed on the day past’s uphill end at Sestola, ending alongside former teammate Egan Bernal in a primary group of favourites to affirm his wonderful type.
Bernal’s Ineos Grenadiers group additionally suffered a blow on Wednesday when co-leader Pavel Sivakov crashed with 15km remaining after he collided with the curb and a department of a tree on the left-hand aspect of the highway.
The Franco-Russian rouleur completed the stage in final place over quarter-hour in arrears to drop out of competition for the pink jersey, with the British group’s hopes now falling solely on the shoulders of Bernal, the 2019 Tour de France champion.
Amid all of the drama – which included one other spill which break up the peloton with 10km remaining – Italy’s Alessandro De Marchi retained the pink jersey. The 34-year-old Israel Start-Up Nation rider now leads Belgium’s Louis Vervaeke (Alpecin-Fenix) after the unfortunate birthday boy Dombrowsky plummeted down the standings.
Other than the occasions which soured the tip of the stage, little or no occurred on the lengthy, flat, and straight highway between Modena and Cattolica. A two-man break noticed Filippo Tagliani (Androni Giocattoli) and Umberto Marengo (Bardiani-CSF) go clear from the outset to construct up a most lead of 5 minutes. But the duo have been swept up shortly after Tagliani received the intermediate dash at Imola with 105km remaining.
A lull adopted earlier than the identical two Italian wildcard groups have been concerned in the following reshuffle as Simon Pellaud, the Swiss breakaway specialist at Androni went clear with the Italian Davide Gabburo of Bardiani with 68km remaining.
The pair by no means held greater than two minutes’ benefit over the peloton they usually have been joined by Alexis Gougeard (Ag2R-La Mondiale) with 20km remaining after the Frenchman kicked clear because the pack rolled into Rimini. This was to show the beginning of the quite a few incidents which soured the conclusion to the stage as Sivakov’s quickly hit the deck forward of the sickening fall involving Landa and Dombrowski shortly after the main trio have been swept up.
Lotto Soudal stored their man Ewan out of hassle because the peloton swung across the ultimate bend and onto the house straight – however the Australian discovered himself out of place when Nizzolo kicked clear with Viviani. Merlier’s mechanical got here simply because the Belgian was sandwiched between Sagan and Ewan, who launched his dash late however had the facility to blast himself previous the Italian duo and safe the fourth Giro stage of his profession.
The race continues on Thursday with the primary uphill end close to the Marche city of Ascolo Piceno. On what would be the first main rendez-vous for the GC favourites there can be one notable absentee following the unhappy withdrawal of Landa.
STAGE 5 RESULTS
1. Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto Soudal 4:07:01
2. Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Team Qhubeka Assos
3. Elia Viviani (Ita) Cofidis
4. Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
5. Fernando Gaviria Rendon (Col) UAE Team Emirates
6. Matteo Moschetti (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
7. Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
8. Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Jumbo-Visma
9. Manuel Belletti (Ita) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team
10. Davide Cimolai (Ita) Israel Start-up Nation
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION
1. Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) Israel Start-up Nation 13:50:44
2. Louis Vervaeke (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix +42
3. Nelson Oliveira (Por) Movistar Team +48
4. Attila Valter (Hun) Groupama-FDJ +1:00
5. Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis +1:15
6. Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana-Premier Tech +1:24
7. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep +1:28
8. Alberto Bettiol (Ita) EF Education-Nippo +1:37
9. Hugh Carthy (GB) EF Education-Nippo +1:38
10. Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos Grenadiers +1:39
Action from CYCLING World Tour GIRO D’ITALIA Stage 6 – Grotte di Frasassi – Ascoli Piceno can be reside on EUROSPORT and EUROSPORT HD from 16:00 Hrs (04:00 pm IST) onwards on Thursday, thirteenth May 2021. The similar can be reside streamed on discovery+
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